A Tuscan wedding

We arrived back into Tuscany a week or so ago from a sojourn in Australia, Hong Kong and a glorious Thai island, to the surprise wedding of our eldest beautiful boy and his gorgeous Cape Verde Italian citizen girl. This wedding has been hovering on the horizon for months now, and looked like it was going to stay there for the rest of the year and maybe next. That is, until Jake decided to go for his Italian driving license and discovered that his permesso di sojourno was required and that the work visa he had, was over and wasn’t renewable and meant he had to return back to his homeland and wait another six months before returning to Italy. He was devastated by the prospective parting and was so galvanized into action, that he declared his intentions to the Italian Questura and the Australian Embassy and managed to organize his otherwise dreamy life into a wedding at the commune di Lucca, six days before his eviction.

It was one of those extraordinary days of perfect spring weather. Michael and I walked with our handsome groom down the cobbled stones of via Fillungo, ourselves part of the promenade of beautiful people dressed in beautiful things, pausing for a cafe at the bar, before arriving at the imposing and elegant commune di Lucca. The wedding was to be simply a formality as we had not had time to arrange for everyone to be there and was to be celebrated properly in September. But it was beautiful. The celebrant was sensitive and sympathetic to the young couple and added her own choice of poetry to the event. The lovely young things said their vows and added their undying love to the set words and blessed it all with their tears along with everyone else’s. The room was old and timeless, lush wallpapers and painted ceilings, mirrors and fireplaces, gilt, marble and soft carpets, dark brown wood, velvet and gold hangings and long windows letting in a secret delicate light that hinted the perfumes of spring and damp new green grass.

And now we are all back in our mountain valley perched over a full gushing river, swollen from recent rain. The newly weds are asleep in the studio cantina waiting out the last weeks for the old lady to finally vacate her home so they can move in. A new life begins to a musty old space and the promise of replenishment to the cycle of life.